What You Missed

4/25-4/29

Here at Baseball Prospectus, we are dedicated to providing you with oodles of cutting-edge sabermetric analysis and keeping our finger on the pulse of the baseball world. With a slew of daily articles, it’s easy for one piece to get lost in the shuffle or for you to overlook a post while you’re busy hiding your monitor from your boss. Just in case this happens to be your situation, here’s what you might have missed this week at BP.

Some pitchers thrive off of the whiff, but for other pitchers, killing worms and getting a second career in the fish bait industry is the way to go. Twins ace Francisco Liriano has strikeout stuff, but he also has a strong ability to induce contact. So which route is the best one for the left-hander to choose? Colin Wyersis on the case.

At the start of a game, it’s not unusual to hear a loud pop as a heater makes contact with the catcher’s mitt—pitchers usually try to establish the strike zone early with their fastballs. But is it possible that pitching backward—starting with the off-speed stuff and then pounding the fastball later in the game is a more effective game strategy? R.J. Anderson checks the numbers to see which pitchers are most effective by starting with off-speed pitches.

Going into the season, baseball experts (and non-experts) reached a consensus that the Mariners weren’t going to score many runs this year. Nearly a month into the season, Seattle has done nada to change that opinion, and the Athletics are joining them in the non-scoring department. They’re not alone in singing the blues; as Joey Matschulat says, the Rangers can’t get no satisfaction with their relief corps.

Be sure to tune into the Royal wed—no, that’s not it. Remember, the NFL dra—yeah, that’s not right, either. Have a fantastic weekend, take in some of America’s pastime, and we’ll see you here on Monday!

Stephani Bee is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Click here to see Stephani's other articles.
You can contact Stephani by clicking here